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Highs and Lows of the Year That Was

By Jennifer 8. Lee December 28, 2007 3:55 pmDecember 28, 2007 3:55 pm

Lucky Lady, the lamb found loose in the Bronx in June, and the rats who roamed a KFC/Taco Bell in Greenwich Village in February. (Photos: Randy Harris for The New York Times, Rafael Garcia Jr. via APTN)

As 2007 draws to a close, City Room takes a look back at some of the notable events and characters of the year.

The slur that generated sustained outrage: Don Imus’s April description of members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.”The slur that generated intermittent outrage: The word “bitch,” which the City Council proposed symbolically banning in August.

Most photogenic small animal:Lucky Lady, the 7-month-old lamb found loose on the mean streets of the Bronx in June.Least photogenic small animal: The rats filmed at a KFC/Taco Bell in Greenwich Village in February.

Widely noted acknowledgment of sexual identity: The announcement by J. K. Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” series, during a question-and-answer session at Carnegie Hall in October, that the fictional wizard Albus Dumbledore was gay.Widely noted denial of sexual identity: The statement by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who told an audience at Columbia University in September, “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.”

Most talked-about educator who spoke out about the Middle East and kept his job: Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia University, who created a firestorm in September when he excoriated Mr. Ahmadinejad in a 10-minute introductory tirade, telling the Iranian president that he showed “all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator” and was “astonishingly uneducated.”Most talked-about educator who spoke out about the Middle East and lost her job: Debbie Almontaser, the founding principal of the city’s first Arabic-themed school, Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, who was pressured to resign in August after The New York Post quoted her defending the use of the word intifada.

Fictional character involved in civil litigation: JT LeRoy, the alter-ego of the writer Laura Albert, who was ordered by a jury in June to pay $116,500 to a film production company for using a fake persona on a contract.Fictional character involved in possible criminal litigation: John Galt, the Ayn Rand character whose name was adopted by a subcontractor hired to demolish the former Deutsche Bank building near ground zero, where two firefighters died in an August blaze.

Labor actions, in descending order of how much New Yorkers seemed to notice them:

New York food institution shuttered because of declining business.Copeland’s, the half-century-old Harlem soul food restaurant that survived riots but not gentrification.

New York food institution shuttered despite booming business. Maymay’s, the Chinatown bakery famed for its dim sum and custard buns that closed in September because the owners’ children had become professionals and didn’t want to keep up the business.

New York food institution shuttered because of herniated disc.Morrone & Sons, an Italian bakery in East Harlem on East 116th Street that had been around for more than 50 years.

Freakish weather event that few imagined: The rare tornado that struck Brooklyn on Aug. 8.Freakish weather event that many imagined: The record 72-degree temperature in January, which caused some New Yorkers to wear shorts and sandals.

Alarming substance that caused a scare but proved harmless: The liquid, discovered at the United Nations headquarters in August, that was thought to be an Iraqi chemical agent and prompted an evacuation. It turned out to be a cleaning solvent.Alarming smell that caused a scare but proved harmless: The mysterious rotten-egg-like odor over Lower Manhattan in January, prompting calls to 911.

Most selfless New Yorker: Wesley Autrey, who rushed onto subway tracks in front of an oncoming No. 1 train in January to save an epileptic man who had fallen. He was called “Subway Superman” by some.Most cowardly New Yorker, if the allegations are true: Jack Rhodes, who was accused of mugging and assaulting two women, ages 101 and 85, in March. He pleaded not guilty when indicted in June on charges of burglary, robbery and assault as hate crimes.

Wealthy woman’s heir receives endowment: Trouble, Leona Helmsley’s dog, an 8-year-old Maltese, the beneficiary of a $12 million trust fund created after Mrs. Helmsley’s death in August.Wealthy woman’s heir receives indictment: Anthony D. Marshall, Brooke Astor’s only child, who was charged in November with fraud and larceny stemming from his stewardship of her financial affairs and the handling of her will.

Apparently Leona Helmsley insisted that everyone, including her dog, be subservient to her before rewarding them in her will. Thus two of her grandchildren were left out. That is who is supposed to get unconditional love – the grandchildren, but not with Leona Hemsley; she had to turn to her dog to give her unconditional love.
The son of Brooke Astor is such a disgrace. Fortunately his own son realized something was wrong with how his father was treating his own mother and blew the whistle on him. Brooke who gave not only her money to this city, she gave of herself to this city as well; then is betrayed by her own son.
Ruth Beazer

High Point: Doctoroff’s leaving. Hopefully, in 2008, there will be more critical inquiries and examinations by the Council, the State Assembly, and the Fourth Estate into the Bloomberg Administration’s policy planning and implementation, its love of monopoly and oligopoly in government contracts and franchises, and its penchant for secrecy and use of private sector consultants.

“Most talked-about educator who spoke out about the Middle East and lost her job: Debbie Almontaser, the founding principal of the city’s first Arabic-themed school, Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, who was pressured to resign in August after The New York Post quoted her defending the use of the word intifada on a T-shirt.”

She demonstrated a combination a bad judgment, incompetence, disrespect,ignorance,lack of empathy, disingenuousness and inflamatory behavior to have the leader of a new educational institution in New York City, one with a central focus on middle eastern studies/Arabic, the city that was devastated and traumatized by 9/11, to introduce this concept of violence and terrorism that has plagued the middle east into our peaceful and tolerant city. What an outrage. And then rather than immediately acknowledging that she made a major error, she went on to defend this, going as far as suing the city for discrimination.

After the great success that Mayor Guliani and now Blumberg have had in reducing violent crime in NY to very low levels, all we would need is to recreate Beirut, Gaza, Baghdad and Pakistan in New York.

Most positive use of media: An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore, Sicko by Michael Moore, Amy Goodman and (usually) the New York Times to even the score:
Most negative use of media (not including jihadi websites); Lou Dobbs, TV, Tabloid and blog planet alternate reality, xenophobes and revisionists who try to trash reputations (such that of heroic Principal Debbie Almontaser!) based on ideology and misreading the facts. Open your minds, fellow earthlings! Thinking is not the same as having an opinion!

The forced resignation of Debbie Almontaser from Khalil Gibran International Academy by Mayor Bloomberg, Chancellor Klein and UTF President Weinberger hit an all time low for the City of New York. Not only was Ms. Almontaser forced to agree to the interview with the NY post “reporter” Chuck Bennett, Bennett had already informed the Department of Education that he intended to question Ms. Almontaser about the intafida t-shirts (for which she had absolutely no connection of any kind). A Department of Education Media and Press staff person was on the line with Ms. Almontaser when she spoke against her desire with Chuck Bennett, and congratulated her on her excellent response to his comments. Only later, when Bennett misrepresented and omitted several of her comments, did the DOE and Mayor Bloomberg serve her up to the right wing reactionary press and home grown racists that responded to the NY Post yellow journalism. SHAME ON the leadership of New York City who had honored Ms. Almontaser’s courage and bridge building efforts after 9/11, including, of course, Mayor Bloomberg himself. And the Mayor thinks he would make a good President? He would knuckle under to the first demogogue who challenged any progressive stand he took. President Bloombert? I really don’t think so.

Funny list there, it unnerved me a little how much of these events I knew about, and how much I agreed with the categories.

I do have one quibble, with the “Widely noted denial of sexual identity” choice. Ahmadenijad was probably mistranslated; what he meant was more like the gay people in Iran are not like those in America, seeing as how in Iran they are nearly 100% in the closet, to avoid imprisonment or death. Really the most widely noted, least believable denial of sexual identity was Senator Larry Craig, who before his laughable denials was completely invisible on the national scene. I guess there wasn’t a City Room article on him tho.

Starting in about 11 hours and 24 minutes, y’all have a very Happy New Year!

It is a shame not only that Debbie has been so villified but also that the news continues to inaccurately state that she “approved” or “defended” the T-shirts. This inaccuracy is based on what has been written in what we know to be the tabloid paper, the NY Post. What the Post and articles since have failed to mention is that Debbie said that because of the negative connotations, the T-shirt was inappropriate. You can read this in her public statement made on Oct. 16, which the NYTimes published in on the blog. //cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/principal-of-citys-arabic-school-says-she-was-forced-out/

Moreover, the Post insinuates that Debbie was in some way responsible for the T-shirts which is also completely inaccurate. We do not hold white Christians responsible for all white Christian organizations, there is no reason to hold Debbie responsible for the actions of all Arab-American organizations.

It is sad that no paper to date has yet published a completely accurate story. To learn more about what happened and what is happening, visit //www.kgia.wordpress.com. It would those who are close minded some good to learn who Debbie really is and NYC is fortunate to have her.

Diane a concerned citizen for justice

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